Alfred Hitchcock Greatest Films in Light of Discovery

By IBT Staff Reporter On 08/03/11 AT 11:29 AM

It was recently discovered that Alfred Hitchcock's earliest film has been found in New Zealand. It was produced in 1923 and called "The White Shadow." Hitchcock has credits as the assistant director, art director, editor, and writer of the film. His directorial debut would come two years later at age 25 on "The Pleasure Garden."

"The White Shadow" stars Betty Compson who plays a double role as two very different twin sisters. It was directed by Graham Cutts. Only half of the six-reel feature has been found.

"These first three reels of The White Shadow - more than half the film - offer a priceless opportunity to study [Hitchcock's] visual and narrative ideas when they were first taking shape," said David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and author of The Films of Alfred Hitchcock.

"What we are getting is the missing link," he continued to say. "He was a creative young man who had already done some writing. We know the kind of creative personality he had when he was young and we know a few years later he started directing movies himself. What we don't know is how these things were coalescing in his imagination."

We are excited about this new discovery, just in time for the director's 112th birthday celebration.

Here are some of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films! Quotes below are from Hitchcock taken from Francois Truffaut's book of interviews.

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